Percy, La Critico Musicale Review: Hong Kong Sinfonietta - Fumiaki Miuras HK Dbut (September 10, 2011) Rating: Most

t violinists book for a Hong Kong debut, play their concertos and then disappear into the night. Not Fumiaki Miura. Hes in for the long haul, and the first half of this concert was stunning with his exuberant performance on Dmitri Shostakovichs Violin Concerto No.1 in A minor Op.77. Give or take some clumsy turns of phrase in the opening movement, his playing in this technically demanding concerto was poised, and Alessandro Crudele ensured that the Hong Kong Sinfonietta was suave and well-behaved. Miura played the passacaglia with free-flowing fantasy, his Stradivarius pure at the top, husky at the bottom. In this 36-minute piece, we had an appropriately flamboyant outburst in the scherzo, a capricious passage in the Norturne, and ubiquitous characteristic touches of genius from Miura in the Burlesque. Opening the programme, Crudele led off Igor Stravinskys Suite No. 1 for Chamber Orchestra in a performance which wed grace and muscular sensuality. His pliable approach to rhythm paid high dividends here with flashes of sinister and sardonic malice offering more than a glimpse of mad obsession. Crudele ensured that this suite would be registered as music first and foremost. His control of tempo, orchestral layering and volume was precision-tooled yet it allowed the music to breathe naturally. Sergei Prokofiev's Classical Symphony is more conventional than his Fifth Symphony, but more convincing. Crudele attacked it as if conducting an opera. This Gavotta was truly fiery with the two clarinets providing a sulphurous underlay. The second movement was both jolly but profound, while the finale was hard-driven and obsessive, including a deceleration so outrageous that you could almost hear the brakes squeal. It was the first movement that left this reviewer a bit confused; marked Allegro in the score, Crudele presented this famous movement in quasi Andante assai. The concert concludes with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovskys heartrending symphonic fantasy, telling the tragic love story of Francesca da Rimini in Dantes Inferno. Crudele secured from his orchestra the buoyant, floating quality it demands. He cleverly initiated the endlessly repeated ostinato accompaniment so quietly that it was a minute or two before its full outline was apparent. The shifting orchestral timbres over the top also seemed more varied than usual and the bluesy riffs on brass and saxophone were particularly enjoyable.